Investing.com – Gold futures moved lower in Asian trade Friday, following a rise in U.S. equities and developments in Europe that served to ease concerns over the region’s debt woes.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery traded at USD1,753.05 a troy ounce during early Asian trade, dropping 0.43%, after hitting a high of USDS1,761.65.
On Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims fell by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 390,000 for the week ending November 4, outperforming market expectations of a 400,000 figure for the period.
Meanwhile, surging Italian government bond yields that startled the market Wednesday abated, with yields on an auction of Italian government bills falling to 6.9% on Thursday from 7%, the rate at which Greece initiated requests for debt aid.
Market analysts forecast that the record high yields on Italian bonds were unsustainable and that if the country were to quickly name a successor to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, it would further ease market anxieties over an Italian financial collapse.
And in Athens, Greece’s new coalition government agreed to name former European Central Bank Vice President Lucas Papademos as the country’s new prime minister.
Wall Street dealers snapped up oversold U.S. issues from the previous session following news from Europe, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 0.94% to 11,891.70, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.13% to 2,635.15, and the S&P 500 advanced 0.86% to close at 1,239.70.
Separately, Japanese financial provider Nomura raised its forecast on gold to USD2,000 an ounce by the end of 2012, up from its previous estimate of USD1,800.
A falling dollar helped to limit losses in gold futures, as a weaker greenback makes gold futures purchases less expensive for holders of other currencies.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.03% to 77.81.
On the Comex, silver for December delivery dropped 0.43% to trade at USD33.94 a troy ounce, while copper for December delivery lost 0.16% to trade at USD3.375 a pound.